David Yates Directing THE HOBBIT?

Earlier today, /Film reported that David Yates (who directed the final four Harry Potterfilms) is MGM’s top choice to replace Guillermo del Toro as director for the upcoming two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. That report seems to have been confirmed by Production Weekly. But later in the day, Yates’ representation denied these reports to The Wrap. Yates would seem ideal for the job given his work with a similar franchise, something I noted a couple weeks ago when del Toro left the project. Also, Yates will be consumed with Harry Potter post-production for the next year and that will allow plenty of time for MGM to solve their financial issues before his direct involvement would begin. Hit the jump for a quick refresher on the Hobbit drama that has unfolded over the past couple of weeks.

After the wild success of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Ringstrilogy, it came as a surprise to no one that MGM’s logical next move would be to produce a cinematic version of The Hobbit, a prequel to the LOTR series of books. Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy & Hellboy 2) was announced as director with Rings director Peter Jackson producing a two-film adaptation. Filming was expected to begin this summer but financial issues at MGM led to uncertainty as to when filming could begin. After years of pre-production planning on the film, del Toro left the project two weeks ago to work on his other film commitments. Peter Jackson then hinted that he may have to step in and direct the films to protect the studio’s investment. Now we arrive at today with the speculation that David Yates will direct. Let us know what you think about David Yates directing The Hobbit in the comment section below.